A WORTHING trader who hid foreign labelled cigarettes under floorboards and behind wall panels has been spared jail.

Siavash Rostamy has been given a four month suspended sentence along with 100 hours of unpaid work and also ordered to pay £1,200 within three months at Lewes Crown Court on Friday.

Mr Rostamy's stash of illegal cigarettes were discovered by undercover West Sussex trading standards officers and sniffer dogs in September last year.

Officers covertly purchased a packet of foreign labelled cigarettes from Worthing Convenience in Chapel Road, Worthing, following an anonymous tip-off, returning later the same day with a sniffer dog to find 66 packets of foreign labelled cigarettes and tobacco concealed in the store floor.

Trading standards officers made follow-up visits to the store in January and February and seized further illicit tobacco products.

In total, more than 90 illegal products were seized from the store.

Previous shop owner Acko Aso Nuri was given a legal bill of £1,900 earlier this year and ordered to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work for possession of foreign labelled and unsafe tobacco products.

Richard Sargeant, trading standards team manager, said: “We have tested a sample of the illegal cigarettes seized from Worthing Convenience and they were found to be extremely unsafe.

“Illicit, counterfeit tobacco can be extremely dangerous as it does not self-extinguish, which can lead to house fires.”

Anyone with information about illicit tobacco can contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 03454 04 05 06 or visit westsussex.gov.uk/tsreport.